Hundreds
of thousands of veterans -- from Vietnam through Operation Iraqi
Freedom -- are at risk of being banned from buying firearms if
legislation that is pending in Congress gets enacted.

How? The
Veterans Disarmament Act -- which has already passed the House
-- would place any veteran who has ever been diagnosed with Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on the federal gun ban list.

This is exactly
what President Bill Clinton did over seven years ago when his
administration illegitimately added some 83,000 veterans into
the National Criminal Information System (NICS system) -- prohibiting
them from purchasing firearms, simply because of afflictions like
PTSD.

The proposed
ban is actually broader. Anyone who is diagnosed as being a tiny
danger to himself or others would have his gun rights taken away
... forever. It is section 102(b)(1)(C)(iv) in HR 2640 that provides
for dumping raw medical records into the system. Those names --
like the 83,000 records mentioned above -- will then, by law,
serve as the basis for gun banning.

No wonder
the Military Order of the Purple Heart is opposed to this legislation.

The House
bill, HR 2640, is being sponsored by one of the most flaming anti-Second
Amendment Representatives in Congress: Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY).
Another liberal anti-gunner, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), is sponsoring
the bill in the Senate.

Proponents
of the bill say that helpful amendments have been made so that
any veteran who gets his name on the NICS list can seek an expungement.

But whenever
you talk about expunging names from the Brady NICS system, you’re
talking about a procedure that has always been a long shot. Right
now, there are NO EXPUNGEMENTS of law-abiding Americans’ names
that are taking place under federal level. Why? Because the expungement
process which already exists has been blocked for over a decade
by a "funds cut-off" engineered by another anti-gunner, Sen. Charles
Schumer (D-NY).

So how will
this bill make things even worse? Well, two legal terms are radically
redefined in the Veterans Disarmament Act to carry out this vicious
attack on veterans’ gun rights.

One term
relates to who is classified a "mental defective." Forty years
ago that term meant one was adjudicated "not guilty" in a court
of law by reason of insanity. But under the Veterans Disarmament
Act, "mental defective" has been stretched to include anyone whom
a psychiatrist determines might be a tiny danger to self or others.

The second
term is "adjudicate." In the past, one could only lose one's gun
rights through an adjudication by a judge, magistrate or court
-- meaning conviction after a trial. Adjudication could only occur
in a court with all the protections of due process, including
the right to face one's accuser. Now, adjudication in HR 2640
would include a finding by "a court, commission, committee or
other authorized person" (namely, a psychiatrist).

Forget the
fact that people with PTSD have the same violent crime rate as
the rest of us. Vietnam vets with PTSD have had careers and obtained
permits to carry firearms concealed. It will now be enough for
a psychiatric diagnosis (a "determination" in the language of
the bill) to get a veteran barred ­for life ­ from owning guns.

Think of
what this bill would do to veterans. If a robber grabs your wallet
and takes everything in it, but gives you back $5 to take the
bus home, would you call that a financial enhancement? If not,
then we should not let HR 2640 supporters call the permission
to seek an expungement an enhancement, when prior to this bill,
veterans could not legitimately be denied their gun rights after
being diagnosed with PTSD.

Veterans
with PTSD should not be put in a position to seek an expungement.
They have not been convicted (after a trial with due process)
of doing anything wrong. If a veteran is thought to be a threat
to self or others, there should be a real trial, not an opinion
(called a diagnosis) by a psychiatrist.

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If members
of Congress do not hear from soldiers (active duty and retired)
in large numbers, along with the rest of the public, the Veterans
Disarmament Act -- misleadingly titled by Rep. McCarthy as the
NICS Improvement Amendments Act -- will send this message to veterans:
"No good deed goes unpunished."

Larry Pratt has been Executive Director of Gun
Owners of America for 27 years. GOA is a national membership organization
of 300,000 Americans dedicated to promoting their second amendment freedom
to keep and bear arms.

He published a book, Armed People Victorious,
in 1990 and was editor of a book, Safeguarding Liberty: The Constitution
& Militias, 1995. His latest book, On the Firing Line: Essays in the Defense
of Liberty was published in 2001.